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A look inside the new modular building

Photo credit: Brittany Smith

Written by: Communicator StaffNovember 18, 2017

By: Mikaela Conley

The Communication Sciences and Disorders Department held an open house for its new office space earlier this month. The new space includes classrooms, faculty and staff offices, a small library and study space for students, and several speech and hearing therapy rooms where undergraduate students offer free therapy to the community, among much more.

The department moved into its new space around July and has been for the most part pleased with the transition, said JoAnne Blosser, administrative assistant for the CSD department.

“This is a lot nicer than what we had (in Neff Hall),” she said. “Part of the problem was that we were not ADA compliant.”

Now, the space is all on one level, includes a ramp to the main entrance and has wide hallways to ensure easy accessibility.

Students and faculty in the CSD department are looking to expand as they try to establish a master’s degree program as well, she said.

Blosser said the department had the approval of the American Speech and Hearing Association for the program in 2010 when she started with the program, but faculty could not get the financial backing from the university.

“This is another try at that, we have been told that they will financially back us up to go forward,” she said. “It is really important to have a master’s program for multiple reasons.”

Blosser said that CSD students have a hard time getting into graduate school because of the strong competition and lack of multiple programs in the area; however, IPFW students actually graduate a step ahead of other graduates because they get actual clinic experience that is not required by ASHA.

“Not every undergrad program has a clinic like this, In fact most of them don’t. So this is an advantage to IPFW students because they actually get clinic experience to take with them to grad school so they’re a step ahead,” she said.

The new building also includes class-rooms and conferences for use of any group or department on campus.

“So that’s why there’s kind of two spaces here,” she said. “It met our need and met part of the university’s need as well.”